Jonathan Guzman, a San Jose Sureno gang member, has been convicted of first-degree murder after he brazenly shot 18-year-old Hugo Gutierrez to death in 20l1 at a busy intersection at the end of a rush-hour bike chase. Guzman apparently targeted his victim because he passed in front of a Sureno stronghold wearing a ponytail toward the top of his head, a hairstyle associated with the rival Norteno gang.

A San Jose teenager who shot and killed an 18-year-old man last year after chasing him on a bicycle through a busy intersection during rush-hour traffic has been convicted of first-degree murder, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office.

Jonathan Guzman, who was a 17-year-old Sureño gang member when he stood over Hugo Gutierrez, 18, and fired several gunshots at point-blank range, is expected to be sentenced to 50 years to life in prison, according to prosecutor James Cahan.

Guzman, now 18, was also convicted this week of personally discharging a firearm causing death, which adds 25 years to the sentence, as well as committing the crime for the benefit of a criminal street gang. Prosecutors charged Guzman as an adult in the killing.

"He took a life and he threw away his own, all for the gang," Cahan said.

On Jan. 21, 2011, just before 5 p.m., Gutierrez was riding his bike through a Sureño stronghold wearing a ponytail toward the top of his head -- a hairstyle associated with the rival Norteño gang -- when Guzman targeted him. As horrified witnesses watched, Guzman chased Gutierrez as they both rode bicycles through heavy traffic at Story Road and Capitol Expressway.

As Guzman pedalled, he fired shots from a semi-automatic handgun, eventually bringing Gutierrez down near the El Pollo Rico restaurant at 2687 Story Road. Guzman then stood over his injured victim and fired more shots from point-blank range, according to prosecutors. Gutierrez was hit by nine bullets, prosecutors say.

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Several people witnessed the shooting, including one man who was so angry that he chased Guzman and eventually confirmed to police that he was the shooter.

"He was so outraged by what happened in his community," Cahan said.

While the witness was searching for the shooter, he came across a police officer who had stopped another man, thinking he was the suspect. The witness told the officer it was the wrong guy.

Cahan also credited quick-acting San Jose police officers for arresting Guzman within 15 minutes of the shooting.

Responding to the shots, officers Nicholas Bronte and Frank Hagg drove to an elementary school in the area that is a known gang hideout, Cahan said. Directed by witnesses, the officers found Guzman on the school's field and arrested him.

"The officer, with the information that he had, went to the gang stronghold instead of the scene and was directed to the defendant," Cahan said. "It was phenomenal police work."

More than a half-dozen witnesses came forward on the day of the shooting and also testified in court against Guzman. Cahan credited the witnesses for having the strength to step forward and testify in the gang-related case.

Cahan said the murder was likely committed in retaliation for the killing of a Sureño gang member four days earlier, about a mile away from where Gutierrez was gunned down.

"This gang couldn't be perceived as weak, and they showed their strength by this public display of violence, hoping to intimidate," Cahan said. "Fortunately, they didn't."

During closing arguments, Guzman used his shackles to scratch his gang initials into a holding cell wall. Cahan was allowed to interrupt his closing argument to show that Guzman is "a committed gang member."